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Celebrate World Book Night Today!

Today is UNESCO’s World Book Day, chosen to coincide with the birth of Cervantes, and both the birth and death of Shakespeare. Here, it’s also World Book Night, a special celebration in which 25,000 volunteers will distribute half a million free paperbacks to reluctant adult readers. I think this is awesome. There are multiple nonprofits dedicated to giving free books out to children, like RIF and First Book, but it’s amazing how many adults there are that hardly read until someone puts the right book in their hands.

World Book Night is supported by the American Library Association, American book publishers, the American Booksellers Association, Barnes & Noble, the Association of American Publishers, and Ingram Book Distributors. I’d suggest you check out your local library or bookstore and see if they’re participating and if there are any related activities going on.

It’s too late to be a volunteer giver this year (how cool would that be, to be able to hand free books out to people personally!) but what you CAN do is spread the word about World Book Night. The more the merrier- make it viral! There’s a World Book Night Facebook page, and also a Pinterest board.(actually, there are many Pinterest boards and pins related to World Book Night- that’s just the official one). And, of course, just because you didn’t sign up to do it officially, that doesn’t mean you can’t give a book to a reluctant adult reader of your acquaintance. In fact, I recommend it. Get into the spirit of things- celebrate literacy and reading!

And here are the books that World Book Night volunteers will be handing out… they include excellent YA titles, powerful nonfiction, and some really great fiction, including a few genre titles.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Wintergirls
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Friday Night Lights
Kindred
Ender’s Game
Little Bee
The Hunger Games
Blood Work
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Because of Winn Dixie
Zeitoun
Peace Like a River
A Reliable Wife
Q is for Quarry
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Kite Runner
The Stand
The Poisonwood Bible
The History of Love
The Namesake
The Things They Carried
Bel Canto
My Sister’s Keeper
Housekeeping
The Lovely Bones
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Just Kids
The Glass Castle
The Book Thief

Get the news out, and share the love of reading everywhere you can!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by , Reply

The Top Picks in Horror Fiction from RUSA’s “Must Read” Titles in Genre Fiction for 2012

ALA’s Reference and User Services Association(aka RUSA) is made up of top readers’ advisory librarians, and they have just announced their “must read” list for genre fiction for 2012.  I thought I’d share it here and see whether all you avid horror readers agree with their choices.

TOP PICK

The Ridge by Michael Koryta, Little, Brown, 9780316053662
The unexplained death of an eccentric lighthouse keeper in the isolated Kentucky woods, followed by a mysterious threat to a nearby large cat sanctuary prompt an investigation by a journalist and the local sheriff. Palpable evil and a sense of dread drive this chilling tale.

READ-ALIKES:

The Dead Path by Stephen Irwin
Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist

SHORT LIST:

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan, Knopf, 9780307595089
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian, Crown, 9780307394996
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory, Del Rey, 9780345522375
The White Devil by Justin Evans, Harper Collins, 9780061728273

I know our own Top Picks list included a few of these, but some I’m not familiar with at all. Do you agree with the librarians of RUSA?

 

Posted on January 31, 2012 by , Reply

American Library Association 2012 Youth Media Awards Announced

ALA’s Youth Media Awards include the famed Newbery and Caldecott Awards, as well as numerous others. This year’s awards were announced last night at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting, and since I’m unfamiliar with a lot of the books, I now have a whole bunch of new titles to add to my (already very long) reading list.

The Newbery went to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. I LOVE Jack Gantos- to me it seems like he really captures the experience of being a boy, with humor. Not that I’m a boy. But a lot of his books are semi-autobiographical, and they just knock me over. Gantos has also written a YA novel, The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, which is deeply dark and twisted, that we’ve reviewed here. He is, simply, a great writer.

The Caldecott went to A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, who is a favorite illustrator of mine. I love his book Yo! Yes!… It is a great read aloud for any story hour!

And the Printz, for excellence in YA literature, went to Corey Whaley for Where Things Come Back, which I have been meaning to read and will now be moving to the top of my list.

 

Congratulations to them all!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by , Reply
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